This was an amazing novel. The main character, Hal is a tarot card reader at Brighton Pier. When Hal receives a mysterious letter naming her the heir to her grandmother’s estate, she decides this might be the answer to her financial woes. The start of this novel is slower but still engaging with the gloomy feel of the dreary Trespassen House, the family estate and the mysterious Westaways. Hal’s new home is a crumpling old mansion and her new family seems to be hiding many secrets about her dead mother and a missing cousin. This novel is full of twists and turns that had me guessing until the very end. 5 huge stars!

LOVED this book! Definitely her best book yet!
Read my full review here:
http://readwithsam.com/2018/05/12/book-review-the-death-of-mrs-westaway-by-ruth-ware/

I loved it. It was an incredibly adictive read. Could not put it down. I just found myself wanting to know all of the westaway's family secrets, I loved all the twist ans turns of the story.

Loved this book, my favourite Ruth Ware.
Read it during May and reviewed in 2 videos.
May wrap up review: https://youtu.be/7Czh4h-tMfc

This book just didn’t take off for me. Found it a bit unrealistic. I know the author was trying to create an eerie and gloomy atmosphere with the old house , snowstorm, and the tarot cards but it was lacking. All the similar and weird names were confusing especially Hal’s relationship with Maggie and Maud. A lot of the book had details that were not needed. I did not really care in the end who was who , what happened before etc. as it took such a long and boring time to get there.

The Death Of Mrs. Westaway is a mystery novel about dark family secrets that takes place in England, during November (the perfect dreary weather for a thriller). The story is told from Harriet's perspective in present day, and by journal entries from the past. After her mother is killed in an accident, Hal takes over the family business reading tarot cards on a pier in Brighton. I became attached to Hal pretty quickly, and found myself hoping she'd be able to pull off the fraud of walking away with someone else's inheritance. Mrs. Westaway's family is a loveless group of people who barely have anything to do with each other. I especially enjoyed cranky Mrs. Warren who helped run Mrs. Westaway's ancient mansion for many years. Her sharp, uninhibited tongue reminded me of Lady Crawley from "Downton Abbey".

The setting of the Westaway mansion, Trepassen, is my favorite character. I loved how the five-sense descriptions of the house helped me feel like I was there, causing the creaks and secrets to haunt my dreams after reading late into the night.

I kinda saw the twist coming, but I almost always guess the "surprise ending" for books and movies. The secondary characters were one-dimensional for me. I would have liked to have been given more opportunity to get to know Mrs. Westaway, and Hal's mother. Mrs. Westaway seems like an entertaining character that would probably make a great protagonist for a prequel :)

There was some fact repetition and I feel like one more big edit could have polished this one to a 5 star read for me.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway is a suspenseful thriller that is a slow-burn, however, it will keep you turning the pages. I definitely recommend you pick up this new book by Ruth Ware.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

We are introduced to Harriet Westaway, known as Hal, who is a young woman trying to survive after the hit and run death of her mother. She takes over her mother's psychic business at the Brighton Beach pier but is having a hard time making ends meet and resorts to borrowing money from a loan shark. The loan shark now wants his loan repaid including an astronomical interest rate.
When Hal receives a letter from a law firm stating she is named in the will of her grandmother she believes it is a case of mistaken identity because the only family she had was her mother. What if she could impersonate this person? Could she pass as the unknown women and collect the inheritance.
I had to keep reminding myself that this story was taking place in the present because the tone of the book had a very gothic 18oo's feel to it. The storyline kept us propelled forward with tiny tidbits of past events the relate to the present situation. Even though we were doled out small pieces of information at a time, I still found the plot to be very predictable with very few aha moments. I found this just to be an okay book and nothing really spectacular.

I absolutely love Ruth Ware and was thrilled to receive an advance reader’s copy of her latest before it hit shelves on Tuesday! I think all of her books have such an easy readability, they always hook me immediately. The Death of Mrs. Westaway was a quick and clever mystery/thriller. While I ended up figuring out the twist, it was a satisfying ending that most importantly made sense.

Ruth Ware seemed to come out of nowhere and then suddenly she was everywhere. I read an ARC of In A Dark, Dark Wood when it came out and while I had a lot of issues with the book, I always quite enjoyed it and wanted to read more. Before I knew it, Ware had put out two more books that are still sitting on my to-read shelf, topping them off with The Death of Mrs. Westaway set to publish this week. When I got an arc of her latest, I figured I ought to jump into before she writes three more books.

As a best selling author, it’s no surprise Ware wants to pump as many books out as she can, but after a while it starts to seem more of job than a passion and the uniquely creative and well cooked ideas tend to get a bit more formulaic and expected. I feel like that is what has happened with this one. It feels like Ware had a story idea and was trying to quickly piece everything together without really letting the story arcs or characters grow on their own. Some situations seemed contrived while others seemed random and none of the characters really showed any depth.

I also have this thing with how villains are written. I find quite often they’re written almost cartoon-like; the way they speak, you can picture them with a weird accent and their phrases include a lot of “well well well” or “what do we have here” kind of notions. I can’t take this kind of villain seriously and the characters who were supposed to be inflicting fear into Hal during this story came off like that to me.

I wanted to enjoy this and be intrigued and creeped out, but this wasn’t really creepy or all that intriguing. The flashback scenes seemed out of place, though they were one of the more interesting aspects, and while I wanted to know how this situation came to be, it also seemed a little obvious the direction it was going in. Nothing shocked me, none of the twists caught me off guard, I had sort of fit all the pieces together about mid-way through.

I didn’t really like any of the characters, Hal annoyed me through most of the book with her sheepishness and I didn’t feel like the ultimate unveiling of the big family secret really fit all that much with some of the events leading up to it. Sadly, this just didn’t do it for me.

3.5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐💫
The Death of Mrs. Westaway was a long and drawn out mystery; too slow at times. There were areas where I thought the progression of the plot was taking too long and I felt the need to skim read some pages, but I resisted that urge and in the end it was best that I didn't miss a thing. Once the mystery began to unfold, clues were uncovered, and secrets were being discovered. At this point I found it was quite important to pay close attention to detail. There were certain reveals that might be confusing and difficult to keep straight if you don't read each part carefully.

The story moved at a quicker pace during the last 25% or so of the book and at that point the thriller aspect finally came into play as well. I enjoyed how the story played out and I was not expecting the outcome or reveal that was presented to us. There were a couple good twists in the plot and the author continually kept me guessing, which is what I was hoping for.

Aside from the slow build up, The Death of Mrs. Westaway was a satisfying mystery. If you're a fan of Ms. Ware or suspense reads in general, this is a good weekend read.

Wow! Very suspenseful.
Just when Hal is completely down on her luck, and not sure how she is going to make ends meet, she gets an intriguing letter naming her as an heir to her grandmother's estate. But, she knows nothing of this family. Her only grandmother is long dead.
As Hal begins to get trapped in a story of her own making, she begins to unravel the true story. So many twists and turns! This book got me hooked quickly, and kept me hooked until the end!

I’m going to be honest here. I own all of Ruth Ware’s books but this is the first one I’ve actually read! The beginning was a little slow for me and I started to get worried that I wouldn’t be able to get through this one. It was the eeriness that kept me going and I’m so happy I did. This book is the definition of a psychological thriller.

I loved how the setting and atmosphere played such an essential role in the story. It gave the book a certain edge. It had an old-school mystery kind of feel but in the modern world. The descriptions Ware uses to explain the setting form a clear picture in the readers mind.

Each character in this book left a lasting impression. The characters each have such definitive traits and flaws and it was interesting to see how that unfolded throughout the book. I found that the main character Harriet (Hal) had a true honesty to her. She was witty and humorous at times which made her a great narrator. I really enjoyed the flashback sections of the book, it added to the mystery of whether Hal was truly connected to this family or not.

This book kept me guessing until the very end. Around the half-way point is when I became fully invested. So if you’re like me and worried about how slow it starts-stick with it! I promise it gets good!

I loved everything about this book! It was an excellent page-turner. I literally could not wait to see what would happen next. I loved that the main character was into tarot card reading. I do not read many stories about tarot cards and I liked how they were weaved into this book. I own all of Ruth Ware’s books and I think this one is now my favourite with The Woman in Cabin 10 coming in a close second. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves thrillers/suspense books.

I have enjoyed all of Ruth Ware's novels, but this last one, The Death of Mrs. Westaway has to be the best by far....This book is written differently than her other novels as it is a Modern Gothic Novel, and gothic novels are my favourite genre of books. I found this book to be on par with Daphne du Maurier and Mary Stewart. It has the poor, unhappy, frightened and lonely female protagonist, the strange inheritance of a dark, old atmospheric large country estate, a family full of secrets and lies, an eerie and creepy and hateful housekeeper, a very gripping plot, interesting characters, suspense and a feeling of foreboding, that makes it impossible to put the book down. Years of lies and secrets, death and deceit brings Harriet 'Hal' Westaway to a secret family she never knew excised, and to a terror and danger she could not get away from.

A big thank you to Netgalley for the chance to receive an advanced copy of the book and for allowing me to give an honest review.

I really enjoyed The Death of Mrs. Westaway. It's highly readable, the twists and turns aren't overly predicatable and I felt a real connection to main character Hal -- I'd love to have her give me a tarot reading!

There were a few tiny places where I got a bit confused about timelines, and I would have loved to have seen a bit more clarity there, especially since there are other times when things almost got too repetitive.

Overall, though, Ruth Ware has done a fantastic job writing a story that builds slowly, revealing tiny snippets here and there. Every time I thought I knew where things were going I turned out to be wrong. Throw in a perfectly creepy atmosphere and you've got a thriller you just can't put down!

Badass Female Character score: 5/5 -- All the points! Hal is strong and capable. She takes care of herself and does not just sit back and let things happen to her. Love this character!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for providing me with a free electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you discovered Ruth Ware's first stellar novel 'In a Dark Wood' be prepared for this outstanding 4th masterpiece work.

Follow Hal with her journey into her journey at the Westaway home. Where you don't know who you can trust as secrets and lies are everywhere.

Truth be told: I literally squealed and danced around my kitchen when I got this book in the mail. I am a HUGE fan of Ruth Ware's writing and have been anticipating this book since it was released! I actually wasn't the biggest fan of Ruth's last book but her first two books were amazing and I really do think that she could be the next Agatha Christie.

This book was so great. I started it just before going on vacation, which was a bad idea since I just wanted to sit down and read it whenever I picked it up but had no time to do so! When I got home I sat and devoured it in every spare minute I had. I loved the nods to Daphne du Maurier and Agatha Christie in the story. There's a character that's very much like a Mrs. Danvers, there's a mystery that I thought I could solve about a dozen times and still had surprises in the end. Now, this book isn't totally written like an Agatha Christie - I find in Christie books I honestly can't figure out what's going to happen and even when I think I have it, Christie throws me for a loop and I realize how wrong I was. There was predictability in this story, but I loved reading it nonetheless. I loved Hal's character and the family she meets - I loved the almost Rebecca-ness to it. And I loved the slow pace it took, while still keeping me hooked.

The only thing I didn't like about the story was one of the reasons Hal needed the money - she basically borrowed money from someone and has people threatening her to pay it back, so she thought the inheritance would be a way to pay it off, but I don't think that this was needed. I think that just Hal being desperate to pay her rent and bills would've been reason enough.

BUT aside from that, this was a great read. I adore Ruth Ware and the instant I finished this one I had to go onto Goodreads to see if she has anything else coming up - there's nothing listed yet, but I can guarantee it'll be added to my wishlist the instant it's there!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. Thank you to the Author, the Publisher and to Netgalley. I previously read The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware and really enjoyed, and was very much looking forward to reading this book. About halfway through the book, I thought that I would give this book a 3 star rating, it was good, but it moved a little bit slow, and was a little bit repetitive. I knew that there was a twist at the end, and I thought that I had figured everything out at the halfway point.
The second half of the book was had a much quicker pace, and I was finding it really hard to put down. The ending was a little bit dark, but really good.
The only thing that I really wished was that there was an epilogue so that I could see where things were 2-5 years later.
I would give this a 4 star rating and would recommend it to friends.

Ruth Ware’s latest release is an atmospheric slow burn mystery that is an absolute joy to read. Comparisons to Agatha Christie’s intricate storytelling are sure to be made, however, Ware’s writing carries its own appeal with a plot that unfurls in its own time with dainty morsels of subliminal clues left amongst the pages. This is a book you’ll want to curl up with as the characters - some likeable and some despicable - are all well crafted and deftly play varying important roles in the story with a main character readers are sure to care about. A delightful summer read!

Thanks to netgalley.com for an advanced readers copy for my honest and unbiased review.

This book was reaaallyy creepy. The more Hal seemed to sink into her lies, the more questions seemed to come to the surface. You will doubt everything and everyone when creepy accidents and nasty remarks will flood towards Hal...

Many thanks to the publisher for the early e-copy of this book through NetGalley.